Microsoft had some strategic announcements during the Mobile World Congress, in which they announced the addition of new OEM partners that had signed up for making Windows Phone devices. Some of the new additions were Indian manufacturers like Lava, Xolo, Karbonn and later Micromax. In that lineup, we have two more OEMs added to the lineup today, and they are BLU and K-Touch. BLU is possibly the Micromax of the US while K-Touch is known for being an OEM as well as a ODM, which does contract manufacturing for other companies. The addition of these two new OEMs means a wider range of Windows Phone 8.1 devices that are all set to be released in the coming months. Will the third ecosystem finally pick up some steam?
The new OEMs have been announced based on changes in attitude within Microsoft. After many iterations, the OS is now finally scalable enough and is now closer to other variants of Windows, not only making development easier, but hardware support too. It was rumoured that Microsoft was planning to let OEMs just package Windows Phone into Android hardware, as WP 8.1 gained the support for on-screen navigation buttons. This also means that Windows Phone 8.1 will have a wide support in internal hardware from Qualcomm, with Snapdragon 200, 400, 600 and 800/801 chipsets.
But Microsoft also went a step ahead by creating reference hardware for Windows Phone, in partnership with Qualcomm so that OEMs can use it to build Windows Phones quicker than ever. The new additions were announced at an event in China, reports LiveSino which broke this news. Talking of the OEMs again, there are currently 17 OEMs working with Windows Phone, including the Nokia devices division that Microsoft acquired. Here is the complete list –
- Nokia (Microsoft Mobile)
- Samsung
- HTC
- Huawei
- ZTE
- Foxconn
- Micromax
- Xolo
- Karbonn
- Lenovo
- Gionee
- BLU
- JSR
- LG
- Longcheer
- Prestigio
- K-Touch
Will this be good enough for Microsoft to bring more choices into the market? Older OEMs like Samsung and HTC have largely ignored Windows Phone flagship devices for the past 2 years, and there are no signs of change either. With Microsoft themselves having about 90% of their platform share, which Nokia once owned, they better hope the OEMs deliver on the promises. Windows Phone 8.1 is a massive update for OEMs too, so lets see if they can take advantage of the hype wave that is currently in place.